U.S. shale output set to rise for 10th consecutive month: EIA

Reuters Staff

2 Min Read

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. shale production is set to rise for the 10th month in a row in October, the U.S. government said on Monday, spurred by U.S. oil prices rising above the $50 a barrel threshold.

File Photo - Natural gas flares are seen at an oil pump site outside of Williston, North Dakota March 11, 2013. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

Output across seven shale plays is forecasted to rise by nearly 79,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 6.1 million bpd, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s monthly drilling productivity report.

North Dakota’s Bakken output is set to rise by 7,900 bpd to 1.06 million bpd, the highest since May 2016.

In Texas, Eagle Ford oil output is set to fall by 9,000 bpd to 1.27 million bpd, the first monthly decline since April, the EIA said.

Permian production is forecast to rise by nearly 55,000 bpd to 2.6 million bpd, the highest level in records dating back to 2007.

U.S. natural gas production was projected to increase to a record 59.7 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in October. That would be up almost 0.8 bcfd from September and also the seventh monthly increase in a row.

The EIA projected gas output would increase in all of the big shale basins in October, except for the Eagle Ford.

Output in the Appalachia region formation in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio, the biggest shale gas play, was set to rise by 0.3 bcfd to a record high of 24.9 bcfd in October, a seventh consecutive increase. Production in Appalachia was 21.4 bcfd in the same month a year ago.